Vacant train berths can be booked even after chart preparation

New Delhi, Feb 27: Now a passenger can book a train ticket even after its charting is done and train is about to depart from the railway station as complete information of vacant berths from train source as well as intermediate locations will be available to users, said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday.

At the launch of Public View of Train Charts and Vacant Berths, the Minister said, 'As transparency is our government's aim, the launch of public view of train charts will enable a passenger in getting information of the vacant berths available in the train after chart preparation.'

'All trains across nation will come under the purview of newly-launched feature,' he added. 'POS machines will be used and all booking will be made only through the machine only. This will make accounting very easy. If tickets are available, anybody can check it online. For instance, if there are three TTEs, whoever books it first that passenger gets the first booking with no overlapping,' Mr Goyal added.

Complete information of vacant berths from train source as well as intermediate locations will be available to the user. Prospective customer can use the information for online booking of vacant berths through TTE as per business rules. This feature is available in web as well as mobile version.

On the significant launch, Member Traffic Girish Pillai said, 'Vacant berths after clearing RAC waiting list are transferred for online booking. There will be an option where passengers will be able to see which berth is vacant or available. He said in next 20 days this facility will be available on premium trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi.

On catering facilities, Mr Goyal said, 'We are upgrading 20 more kitchens of IRCTC. We are also trying bio-degradable packing material as our aim will be to provide highest international level services to our passengers.'

The user-friendly interface will give a graphical representation of the train coaches and berth-wise accommodation status on IRCTC website.

Through a presentation, the feature displayed class wise and coach wise full vacant berth availability information as per the 'First Chart' of the train. It is prepared four hours in advance to train's departure. If the 'Second Chart' is also prepared, then the option to view the details of vacant berths available at the time of 'Second Chart' will also be displayed.

Both the charts will get updated for every charting location as the train heads towards its destination. The user can now click on home page of IRCTC website to view Charts or Vacancy and check journey details such as train number, journey date and boarding station will be taken from the user and on entering the same the user will be able to see class-wise and coach-wise number of vacant berths.